1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article of manufacture. More specifically, this invention is directed to an improvement in vending machines designed for the storage and dispensing of containers, preferably beverage containers in the form of cans or bottles.
2. Background of Invention
Vending machines generally, and beverage vending machines, in particular, are of two basic designs and include a product storage cabinet (with or without refrigeration). These two basis designs include:
(a) Means for gravity-feeding product dispensers, wherein the containers are positioned above the dispensing window and incrementally released so as to effect dispensing thereof, or, alternatively,
(b) Means for elevator-feeding product dispensers, wherein the containers are loaded upon a platform disposed within a storage channel that is inclined from the horizontal, the platform is advanced upwardly, relative to the horizontal plane and within the storage channel. In this latter configuration, the incremental release or displacement of the contents from the top of the storage channel discharges the contents of the storage channel through a dispensing window in much the same manner as the gravity fed systems.
In each instance, the vending machines also generally include means to maintain the containers in an ordered array and means to displace such containers from such ordered array, in response to a customer selection. Because the containers (other than cans) generally have a characteristic shaped indicative of a trade dress or design, their retention within the vending machine, specifically, within vertical storage channels, can present difficulties and challenges.
The following patents are representative of the art in each of these two systems: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,813,569; 6,112,943; 6,199,720; 6,230,908; and 6,253,954. Each of these patents is discussed in order of its date of issue and, thus, no significance is to be attached to the priority assigned to the review and discussion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,569 (to Cihanek, issued Sep. 29, 1998) discloses a point-of-sale cabinet for merchandising products (e.g. packages of cigarettes) adjacent a cashier counter. The cabinet includes a housing having a top opening and a product dispensing rack disposed upright in the housing. The dispensing rack is positioned in the housing so that products supported thereon are accessible through the top opening. The dispensing rack has a bottom surface and includes a plurality of base plates and vertical guides. Each base plate is configured to support a plurality of vertically stacked products disposed thereon. The dispensing rack further includes a plurality of biasing members disposed between the base plates and the bottom surface of the dispensing rack for urging the base plates upwardly along a vertical path defined by the vertical guides so that each of the vertically stacked products may be sequentially accessed through the top opening of the housing. More specifically, a retainer flange partially extends over the top opening of each vertical stack to retain the vertically stacked products within the merchandiser until the merchant or customer removes the top product from the stack.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,943 (to Lauer, issued Sep. 5, 2000) discloses a method of vending bottles from a vending machine in which a plurality of bottles is supported at a top portion of the bottle in the slot in an inclined dispensing rack. The inclined dispensing rack is provided with a pivotable gating member which is selectively engagable with a locking member, so as to control the sequential movement of bottles to be vended through the slot in the inclined dispensing rack. Upon engagement of the locking member with the gating member to lock the gating member in the first position, the gating member engages with the top portion of the next bottle to be vended to block movement of the next bottle to be vended to the opening at one end of the slot. Upon disengagement of the locking member from the gating member, the gating member releases and allows the gating member to pivot in a first direction to a second position under the influence of the top portion of the next bottle. The next bottle thus slides, under the influence of gravity, in a downwardly direction through the slots to the opening at one end thereof U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,720 (to Rudick, et al., issued Mar. 13, 2001) discloses a vending machine with a cabinet having a plurality of inclined, vertically spaced shelves. The shelves are able to selectively feed a beverage container to an elevator which is located adjacent an interior, right side wall of the cabinet of vending machine. A beverage container is dispensed by an escapement block of a shelf onto the elevator. The elevator vertically moves the beverage container, and then dispenses the beverage container to a delivery mechanism which gently lowers the beverage container to a delivery port which communicates with the exterior of the vending machine. The shelves in the cabinet are readily reconfigurable such that their vertical spacing within the cabinet can be easily altered. The escapement blocks of the shelves are mechanically activated to dispense a beverage container by an activation device on the elevator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,908 (to Sloan, issued May 15, 2001) discloses a gravity flow rack including a frame with a plurality of elongated channels attached to the frame. Each channel includes two spaced apart sides and a base wall extending between the sides. A plurality of rollers is movably mounted in each one of the channels. A portion of each roller extends above the respective channel at a first height. A reverse flow stop is pivotally mounted within each channel for movement between a stop position and a flow position. Each stop includes a stop arm. A weighted portion is attached to each stop for automatically biasing each stop to the stop position whereby the respective stop arm extends above the respective channel at a second height, greater than the first height. When the stop is in the flow position, the stop arm extends above the channel at a height equal to or less than the first height.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,954 (to Yasaka, issued Jul. 3, 2001) discloses a storage/dispensing device for a vending machine. Each article rack for storing articles has an article passage for storing the articles in a horizontal row, and a dispensing opening formed at one end of the article passage for dispensing the articles. Each article-dispensing mechanism is provided for the corresponding article rack in a manner movable between a dispensing position and a holding position. A single drive source causes each article-dispensing mechanism to move between the dispensing position and the holding position. In one of the preferred embodiment of the Yasaka device, a base plate stopper is immovably mounted or set with respect to the article rack, the base plate abuts against the base plate stopper when it has moved to the dispensing position, whereby the base plate is positively inhibited from further advancing. This base plate stopper can be selectively mounted at any one of a plurality of mounting positions arranged in the horizontal direction, so that it is possible to change the stroke of the base plate between the standby position and the dispensing position, as required, according to the depth of each article to be dispensed. In another of the preferred Yasaka devices, the article storage/dispensing device further includes a gate for closing the dispensing opening to thereby hold the plurality of articles between the stopper and itself when the vending machine is in the standby state ready for vending the articles, and opening the dispensing opening during the vending operation of the vending machine for vending the articles.
As is evident from the abbreviated review of the prior art, the dispensing of products, including specifically, beverage containers of all kinds, contemplates either a mechanical or gravity assisted drive mechanism to incrementally feed containers from within the vending machine to a dispensing portal. In certain instances, the product is retrieved manually from the rack containing the selected product or ejected from such rack whereupon it arrives at a dispensing portal of the vending machine. In virtually all instances, the product feed within the rack is maintained in place (stored) until requested by a mechanical gate or stop. In the representative beverage dispensing vending machines described above, such gate or stop requires mechanical or electrical energy to free a stored product selection from a rack within the vending machine to allow for dispensing to a customer. Moreover, the relative complexity in such mechanisms and the controls for such mechanisms necessarily increases both cost, complexity and service related problems associated with their design and use. Accordingly, there continues to exist a need for improvement in such vending machines, specifically, in the simplification of such vending machines to both reduce their cost and improve their reliability.
It is the object of this invention to remedy the above as well as related deficiencies in the prior art.
More specifically, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved vending machine for dispensing containers, including beverage containers.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved vending machine for dispensing containers, including beverage containers, having reduced moving parts and enhanced simplicity of operation and reliability.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an improved vending machine for dispensing containers, having a resilient mechanical stop or gate, that is essentially devoid of mechanical moving parts, to control the movement of product within the racks of a vending machine.
Additional objects of this invention include an improved method of dispensing products from a vending machine.
The above and related objects are achieved by providing a vending machine having a plurality of racks therein for dispensing products. Each rack within such vending machine has multiple product dispensing racks wherein each rack comprises a vertical, rectilinear channel defined by pairs of opposing panels or walls. Each channel of each rack has an open end at the top end thereof and closed end at the bottom end thereof, wherein the closed end includes a movable platform for support of product and an open end for dispensing product in response to consumer demand. The open end of the rack is further provided with at least one non-mechanical stop for control of the dispensing of products from such racks in response to customer demand. In the preferred embodiments of this invention, the non-mechanical stop is formed of a resilient deformable material (e.g. natural or synthetic rubber or an equivalent elastomer), and includes means for engagement of a complimentary recess or slot in the opposing panels which define the vertical channel of the product dispensing rack. In the preferred embodiments of this invention, more than one the stop or gate is provided at the open end of each racks within the vending machine, so as to provide equal pressure to each side of the container within the rack and, thus, assist in maintaining its proper orientation of the containers within the rack.